Maj Gen Orde Wingate: the UK Christian who built Israel's modern army

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1237392666214 ^ | fishtank

[fishtank]

In memory of "the friend"; By JOSEPH M. HOCHSTEIN

Daniel Nadel, a Jerusalem resident who for many years has chaired an annual observance in memory of Zionist hero Maj. Gen. Orde C. Wingate, asked a speaker not long ago to discuss the topic "Who Was Wingate?" Nadel had just encountered two Israelis who didn't know who Wingate was. One of those people worked at the Knesset, and the other for the army.

Israelis may know Wingate's name in connection with the Wingate Institute of physical education, the Yemin Orde youth village or various local streets and landmarks. Less familiar is the life story of this Bible-reading Christian who has been called the father of the Israeli army.

Prime minister David Ben-Gurion wrote that Wingate would have become Israel's first chief of General Staff, had he not been killed in World War II. Moshe Dayan and other Israelis who served in Wingate's Special Night Squads saw him as a leader who, as Dayan put it, "taught us everything we know."

[fishtank]

Read more at the link.

[fishtank]

A REMARKABLE ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!

“Wingate grew up in a Protestant movement known as the Plymouth Brethren. He knew the Bible from childhood. He evidently identified with the warrior Gideon. He made his base at Ein Harod, where Gideon recruited his little army. When he was sent to liberate Ethiopia, Wingate called his command “Gideon Force.”

[fishtank]

Do you have or know of a FR Christian Zionist ping list???

This is a great article to coincide with Bibi’s visit.

[Joe 6-pack]

Orde Wingate is among the small handful of foreign nationals interred at Arlington National Cemetary.

[fishtank]

Live.com image search on “Orde Wingate”

http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx?q=%22orde+wingate%22&FORM=BIRE

[Tax-chick]

There are several good biographies of Gen. Wingate in my library. He was a fascinating character, in the tradition of great British eccentric military noodles. Died too young.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

How did General Wingate come to be buried at Arlington ?

[Joe 6-pack]

From source:

He was one of nine men who died in the crash of a U.S. Army Air Corps transport plane in India on March 25, 1944. They were originally buried in India, but moved to a common grave in Section 12 of Arlington National Cemetery on November 10, 1950.

[Tax-chick]

Iirc, “buried” is quite a stretch. It’s assumed that bits of his DNA are among the equally-incinerated remains of several Americans who died in the same plane crash in Burma. After the war, they kind of dug up some dirt from the crash site and put up a monument at Arlington.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I wondered if it was like the other Brits buried there. My dad was in the CBI as a Hump Pilot.

[Joe 6-pack]

I think there was another Brit on the flight whose remains are also interred at Arlington. My understanding is that there was an agreement between the UK and the US, that in such incidents, where the deceased were inextricably tangled and unidentifiable, the nation with the majority loss in the incident would assume custody of, and responsibility for, the remains.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The CBI was out of the ordinary in several ways. One was the AAF recruited civilian pilots for Hump duty. They wore military uniforms with the CBI patch but no insignia of rank. They were referred to as "captain."
My dad was one of these, hired as a civilian because he was too old to join up.

[Joe 6-pack]

"The CBI was out of the ordinary in several ways..."

Indeed it was. One need only look at the history of the AVG. I can only imagine what today's media who so roundly decries Blackwater as "mercenaries" would have thought of the $500 bonus for each Japanese plane destroyed!

[Rummyfan]

In time, the Jews recognized that this unorthodox Christian who aspired to command a Jewish army was indeed their friend. That's what they came to call him - "Hayedid," in Hebrew - "the friend." And that's how Israelis remember him still. At a time when the world was turning its back on the Jews, Orde Wingate chose to be their friend.

He also appears in Leon Uris' EXODUS.

[SES1066]

Another Brit National (Anglo-Irish) buried in Arlington is Sir John Dill GCB, CMG, DSO who died in DC while heading up the British Joint Staff Mission and then Senior British Representative on the Combined Chiefs of Staff. While an un-friend of Churchill, he became a very good friend / ambassador to the US Military. His burial at Arlington was apparently by mutual agreement but still an extraordinary event in 1944.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The US “Joint Chiefs of Staff” was a Dill idea, I'm told. It was modeled on the British Army's organizational structure.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Its a 2008 book.
The full title is "Retribution. The Battle for Japan, 1944-45." It has a lot of stuff from the Japanese perspective, including their nearly constant fear of running out of oil for their navy. Asia was my beat as a youngster.

[Nat Turner]

He also appears in Leon Uris' EXODUS.

It is funny how Hollywood did Col. T.E. Lawrence's story (Lawrence of Arabia) but "conveniently" forgot about Wingate and his work in Ethiopia and Israel...

Personally, I think his story would have made a better movie IMHO

[fishtank]

Because Lawrence had the ‘right’ orientation.

[Nat Turner]

I see fishtank... the pink hand strikes again...SIGH